A 75-year-old woman in Odisha who begs for a living has donated Rs 5,000 of her savings to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund in their fight against Covid-19 pandemic.
Sarojini Das, resident of Ekatala village in Rajkanika block, went to the BDO’s office on Tuesday and donated her savings to BDO DS Subhadarshi Joshi as her contribution to CMRF for the fight against corona pandemic. Das, a widow, also donated Rs 2,000 to the local press club that is providing cooked food to the poor and destitute people in the locality.
The BDO (Block Development Office) said Das has set an example for other people of the state by her selfless act.
“She said she was moved by the plight of several other people going hungry during the lockdown. After she came to know about the state government’s appeal to people to donate money to fight the pandemic, she decided to donate the money,” he said. The woman lost her husband a decade ago.
Incidentally, in October last year Das had donated Rs 50,001 from her old age pension and savings to the Jagannath Temple corpus at Puri. The BDO said that she had a patch of land which she had sold off 5-6 years ago and kept the money. “As she has no children, she did not use the money. She probably donated the money to the Jagannath temple from that amount,” he said.
When asked what the state government would do for Das, the BDO said the government would think about it.
{{/usCountry}}When asked what the state government would do for Das, the BDO said the government would think about it.
{{/usCountry}}Das has no children and ekes out her living by begging in the locality and sleeps in a room of the Jagulaipada grampanchayat office. Incidentally, after the grampanchayat office was turned into a quarantine centre, the woman was forced to look for shelter in other places.
Subhransu Sutar, a member of the local press club, said Das always remains happy even during adversity. “Even when she has to beg for food, she thinks of others going hungry,” said Sutar.